


The Alphabet

by AlsyWalsy



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Humorous Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-21 14:46:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7391443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlsyWalsy/pseuds/AlsyWalsy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hancock pulls a bit of a prank on Nora. She's not too amused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Alphabet

**Author's Note:**

> Based off a prompt I saw on Tumblr like a month ago. Just a bit of humorous fluff.

“A is for..”

“Apple!”

“Very good! And B is for..”

“Ball!”

“Perfect!” The little girl grinned in response to her praise, showing off several bright white little teeth. She clapped her chubby little hands and Nora felt her heart melt.

 Several months ago she had moved all of her companions out to the Castle, leaving Sanctuary for the settlers who desperately needed somewhere to set up a life. Since then, a couple of families had moved in and the youngest child in the settlement had stolen Nora’s heart.

Little Olivia was two years old and eager to learn. And Nora would bring her everything that she could find or trade for. She had managed to get quite a few things for kids from rummaging through old, abandoned houses. Once upon a time it would have killed her to see the remains of lives lost but nowadays it was simply a fact of life.

On her last scout through Concord she had managed to dig up an old alphabet book. She never had the chance to buy one of these for Shaun and now he was too old for those kinds of books. She had immediately thought of Olivia.

And the little girl loved it.

Olivia was a quick learner and had all the words memorised by now, but reading through the book was something that had become a ritual each time she visited.

“C is for?”

“Cat!”

As if he knew that he was being referred to, the cat meowed at them from the chair nearby. Sanctuary was home to several cats and dogs thanks to Nora’s habit of saving animals whenever she came across them.

“And D is for?”

“Dogmeat!”

Nora laughed. “Exactly, Dogmeat.”

The book might have said ‘dog’ but Dogmeat was as common a fixture at her side as her gun. Or her ghoul. Everybody knew the dog with the red bandana.

“Now, what is E for?”

“El.. ele..”

“Fffffff..” She prompted gently.

“Elephelant!”

“Close enough.”

How was she supposed to expect the child to know the name of an animal she would never know? Plus, it was a difficult word, and she was hardly a teacher.

“What’s the next letter then?”

“F.” The little girl seemed to puff herself up, particularly proud of this one. Nora glanced down at the book and caught the eye of the cartoon frog on the page. It wasn’t a hard word..

“And what begins with F?”

“Fuck.”

That was new.

Oh, that was new.

“I’m sorry?”

“Fuck!” The toddler giggled and Nora was sure she had fallen asleep. Or had she taken something and this was all a hallucination? No, that wasn’t it.

“Not frog?”

“And frog!” The little girl was so proud of herself and the sole survivor just couldn’t wrap her head around it.

Suddenly, it all clicked into place and hit her like a goddamn deathclaw. She was going to kill him.

* * *

Sanctuary was a good place to relax after trekking all the way across the Commonwealth. The foundations of one of the ‘House of Tomorrow’ now formed the basis of a general meeting and relaxation area, away from the homes and the market. A circle of mismatched chairs and couches enclosed a small fire, all covered by tin roofing. It kept the sun and the rain off his back and Hancock was happy to find his favourite couch was empty and calling his name.

A few logs on the dying fire, his feet up and his hat turned down over his eyes. John Hancock was enjoying his evening. With any luck he could catch a nap before Nora decided they needed to move on or find a bunk for the night. He missed their mattresses back at the Castle.

He was just about to drift off when his trademark tricorn was rudely ripped from his head.

“Hey, man, what the fu-“ He leapt to his feet. He stopped dead when he saw his girlfriend, moving his hand away from the knife hidden at his back. He had immediately relaxed at the sight of her but now he could see the fire in her eyes and the way her mouth was in a little snarl, showing off white teeth that had no place in the wastes. Maybe he did need his knife.

“Want to finish your sentence, John?”

Oh, he was definitely in trouble. He was only ‘John’ when she was feeling emotional, passionate or angry. This was the least desirable of the three. He gingerly reached out for his hat but she did not hand in back.

“Nah, it’s good. You okay, sunshine?”

“Do I look okay?”

She was answering everything he said with a question. He hated when she did that. How the fuck was he supposed to figure out what he had done when she was like this? He might have known plenty of women in his time but he was in no way well educated in their ways.

“No, you don’t. I mean, not in a bad way. But.. y’know?”

Would the puppy dog eyes work? Maybe they would. Shit, what had he done this time? He’d done a lot.

“I’m going to give you a hint.” She was merciful today. “Olivia.”

“The kid? I didn’t.. Oh.” Shit. Double shit.

He’d been laughing when he came up with the idea and the kid’s Father had been all for it. He had known at the time that there was a chance Nora would find it amusing or hate it. Turns out, it was the latter. Woops.

“Is that all you’re going to say?”

“It was just a joke, that’s all. I asked if I could do it. I don’t just go round messing with kids heads for the fun of it, you know. I thought you might find it just a little funny.” He laughed his raspy laugh but it died quickly.

“Come on, sunshine, it’s funny. I wasn’t hurting anyone.” He took a step forward and rested his hand on her wrist. “Didn’t you laugh even a little bit?”

“Damn it, Hancock.” She shoved him but it was a playful shove. If it wasn’t, he wouldn’t have been still standing. “You’re an ass.”

“Ah, come on, you love my ass.” He grinned and smacked his ass for emphasis. This time she shoved him down into his couch and threw his hat at him. He laughed even though a corner smacked him in the forehead.

“Ass.” She repeated and left him to his rest.

“But I’m your ass!”

“Don’t remind me!”

“You bet _your_ ass I’ll remind you, sunshine.” He settled back into his seat and dropped his hat over his eyes. “Every damn day.”


End file.
